


Kill Our Way To Heaven

by BadDancer



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Childhood Trauma, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, F/M, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Slow Burn, Threats of Violence, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:41:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22286548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadDancer/pseuds/BadDancer
Summary: It was one deal. One deal gone wrong and Alex Moreno was on the Devil of Hell's Kitchen's radar. Now stuck as Daredevil's semi-unwilling informant and caught in a new gang's rise to power, Alex was sinking deeper into a world she never wanted to be a part of in the first place.
Relationships: Matt Murdock & Original Female Character(s), Matt Murdock/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	1. The Drop

The city stank of hot garbage and weed. Traces of iron and sweat snuck their way in, too. It bled together, mixing and staining the air. The whole thing left a fairly distinct impression on anyone unfortunate enough to walk through the steam that rose from the concrete. The scent of Hell’s Kitchen sunk it’s way into every wall, every slab of concrete, every surface it could touch. It was inescapable, and Alex couldn’t help but sneer at the dark city around her for daring to sink its scent into her.

Alex’s old boots slapped against the concrete as she made her way towards the drop off point. The fluorescent street lights danced in front of her as her only source of light, the shop lights having been shut off at least an hour ago. She shrugged her backpack up more snugly against her shoulders as she rubbed at her nose, trying to brush away the offending scent. Her dark hair stuck to her sweaty forehead, feeling the sweat stick her back to her old hoodie she had to keep on to hide her face. The whole thing was all too familiar. Still, she felt her hand sink into her pocket and curl around the pepper spray she had tucked away whenever she went out on jobs. On the upside, it was the last one of the night, and the smallest.

Turning a corner, Alex made her way into the alleyway she’d told Tommy to meet her in. Of course, he was already there. The gangly man leaned against the brick wall, fingers twitching in anticipation. She could practically smell him a block away, with his rotten teeth and clear lack of access to running water, the stench he gave off practically made Alex tear up. Still, she kept her face as slack as she could while she approached the man.

“What’s up, Tommy?”

The man whipped his head towards her, big blue eyes wide and already tinged red. He looked at her like a desperate dog, leaning towards her. Even his shaggy blonde hair gave off the impression of being a sad, abandoned puppy.

“You got it?” he slobbered.

Alex felt her face fall into a scowl, lifting an eyebrow irritably at the junkie in front of her. “What, no polite conversation? Chivalry really is dead.”

“Have you got it?”, Tommy demanded desperately.

“Jesus, yes”, the girl groaned, sliding her backpack off of her shoulders and digging her hands inside, “Have I ever let you down?”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right”, the man giggled like a child, probably already high off of something.

Alex sighed as she felt her hands wrap around the plastic inside her pack. With little hesitation, she lifted up the little plastic baggie filled to the brim with white powder. She quickly threw the now-empty pack back over her shoulder. She could see Tommy practically leaping forward at the sight, arms outstretched in a childlike grab for the powder. Just as he was about to snatch it, Alex pulled it just out of his reach, holding her hand out against his chest to hold him back.

“Uh-uh, not so fast, Dopey”, she stated, shoving him back with little effort, “You owe me.”

Tommy’s blonde hair fell in greasy sheets over his eyes as he hunched over. His beady eyes flicked all over Alex’s face as if he were trying to find a proper answer somewhere in it. “Uh, I have- I have the money. I just need to- uh-”

“You know the deal”, Alex cut him off, “No money, no coke.”

“But I-”

“No buts”, she commanded, her voice losing any traces of humor, “I don’t fuck around with this, Tommy. Give me two grand and you get your fix. I don’t do payment plans.”

Tommy’s face twisted, turning bright red. His screwed lips opened only for flecks of spit to fly right out. “Fucking cunt!”

Swiping a stray fleck of spit right off of her cheek, Alex shrugged, unphased by the whole thing. “Alright, then. Guess you don’t need this shit after all.”

It was as if a switch was flipped for the junkie. His stiff, furious posture quickly slackened into a strange sort of pathetic hunch. He swiped at his lips to try and wipe away the spit, his feet shifting nervously underneath him. Big blue eyes bore into Alex’s as he shifted closer to her.

“No! No, I- I’ve got the money. Please, just- I’ve got it.”

He quickly dug into his pockets, producing several crumpled fifties and hundreds that looked to have something sticky on some of their surfaces that shone under the bare traces of the street lights. Alex felt her nose scrunch in disgust at the state of the money. It almost looked like he’d wiped his snot on them. But that didn’t really matter

“There’s a good boy”, she simpered with a slack face, “Now say you’re sorry.’

“What?”

Alex felt her lips curl into a smirk, still holding the coke just out of reach. “I said say you’re sorry. You learn this crap in kindergarten, you don’t get your toys back unless you apologize.”

The words seemed to pass straight through the junkie’s head. He twitched slightly and couldn’t seem to stand steady on his feet.

“C’mon, Tommy”, she insisted, “You don’t want the Devil to drop in on us while you’re making up your mind.”

“Fine I’m- I’m sorry. I’m really really sorry”, the junkie pleaded, sweat beading on his forehead and skin turning pink, “Please just… just give me my stuff.”

Alex felt her smirk fall from her face. She felt her chest constrict and fingers tighten on the little baggie still clutched just above her head. Looking over at the man sweating and begging made her feel sick. He looked so miserable, so desperate, so familiar. Feeling her arm drop down to her side, Alex quickly pushed the feeling down and secured a carefully neutral expression on her face, eyes locking with the junkie in front of her.

“God, all you had to do was ask”, she grumbled, tossing him the baggie that he clumsily caught and held to his chest, “Pleasure doing business as always.”

Without so much as a thank you, Tommy turned on his heel and ran down the alleyway, leaving Alex standing alone in the bare traces of the fluorescent street lights. “…and he doesn’t even say goodbye. What a fucking gentleman.”

Looking down at the crumpled bills in her fist, the dark haired woman carefully started to count them. Bits of what felt like melted candy stuck to her fingers from the disgusting paper bills. Cursing, she realized that Tommy had come up nearly a hundred short. Again.

Alex threw a look over her shoulder. Then again down the alley. Careful to note that no one else was around to watch her, she pulled her backpack down and unzipped the front pocket where she kept her own money. Riffling through the carefully stacked bills, Alex snatched a single hundred and crumpled it in her fist. Satisfied that it looked like something Tommy would produce, she released her grip on the money and slipped it into Tommy’s pile. 

With a few muttered swears, Alex slung her backpack securely over her shoulders and made her way out of the alley and back into the street. The hot, sticky air clung to her skin as she carefully calculated which streets to take back to her home. She couldn’t risk being seen by a cop, and it would be worse if she ran into another gang member. The Puerto Ricans weren’t exactly known for being amicable, and she wasn’t in the mood to be interrogated about her deals tonight. So she kept to the back streets and areas she knew for sure weren’t going to have any deals tonight. 

The walk was long. A solid half hour of zig zagging back and forth from one back alley to another. Alex scratched at her skin, feeling sweat and dirt sticking underneath her nails as she did. Soon enough, she saw the red painted door of her apartment building. It barely stood out amongst the other run down doors and buildings, but it was easy to spot for Alex. Unfortunately, standing just beside the front window was the lanky, meticulously groomed Brendon Kelly. 

Alex held back a groan as she saw a cigarette dangling from his smirking lips while he looked over at her. His overpriced jacket hung over his sharp shoulders and skinny body. He leaned back on his heels, running his fingers through is overly-greased hair like he owned the whole city block. Barely two years older than her, the man still had the air of a spoiled teenager, which was only tolerated because he was the son of one of the most powerful men in the Irish mob. Well- the new one. That, and he had a penchant for being liberal with his use of a switchblade. He’d been worse since Wilson Fisk brought his father’s small time gang deep into Hell’s Kitchen’s crime syndicate, and even worse when Fisk fell nearly a month ago, leaving a crime vacuum in the city for them to fill.

“Well hello, Lexi”, he simpered, smoke puffing out from his lips as his beady eyes raked her up and down, “How’s your night going?”

Alex rolled her eyes at the nickname he never ceased to use with her. 

“What did I say about coming to my apartment, Brendon?” she demanded, already feeling her face heat up at the sight of the man sauntering in front of her, “What are you doing here?”

The man shrugged, his lanky figure seeming to ripple down as he did. The smoke dispersed around his sharp, smiling face. “Thought the door was always open for me?”

“Ready and waiting to slam straight in your face”, the girl sniped back, “My home is off limits.”

“Whatever”, he shrugged her off, completely ignoring Alex, “Had to make sure you didn’t run off with the money.”

Alex felt her face screw up in indignation, lips tight and nostrils flared. Ripping the backpack off of her shoulders, she quickly dug her hand in and held out the wads of cash from the night’s jobs. A solid twelve thousand dollars stuck together with Tommy’s loose bills sticking to the otherwise organized stack. “Go screw yourself. I’ve got your fucking money.”

Brendon stuck his cigarette back between his lips. “I just thought-”

“I have the money.”

“Clearly”, the greasy man conceded, though not without a condescending grin spreading on his lips. He turned his beady eyes back to the stack of cash, skillfully counting the bills quickly and cleanly. His smirk turned downward into a petulant frown. “Well, looks like you had a weak haul today.”

“It’s a Wednesday”, Alex shrugged, throwing her pack back over her shoulder, “Corporate douches usually stock up on Thursdays before their big business trips.”

“And yet those corporate douches seem to love to buy from you”, he responded, turning his eyes on her again, “Can’t be the looks. Must be your sparkling personality.”

Alex silently tried to keep her temper in check. She only had so much room to insult him, and she was very careful not to cross that line. Everyone knew what Brendon did to people who pushed him too far, or just annoyed him too much. And everyone knew his father would cover up for his rabid dog of a son.

“Tommy tried to come up short.” she provided, jaw tight as she did.

The other man’s brows rose up in interest. It hadn’t been the first time this particular junkie had tried to hustle them. “Did you cover him?”

“What do you think?” she countered, trying to keep her eyes from flicking around and giving herself away, “Count the money.”

“Why do you always have to be so bitchy to me?”

Alex felt her nose wrinkle in annoyance. “Just an idea, but maybe I’m a bitch.”

“Maybe you should get it pounded out of you…” he simpered, leaning forward suggestively. His hands reached for Alex’s hips, fingers barely brushing her before she took a defiant step back.

“Didn’t you just call me ugly?” she spat, feeling her muscles clench in protest against his touch.

“Never said ugly, Lexi”, he said in what was half reassurance and half demand, “Sometimes you just gotta take what you can get.”

He reached out and firmly gripped her just above the hip, squeezing her flesh like he wanted to mark her with his fingerprints. Alex nearly gagged, the scent of nicotine thick on his breath and the feel of his hands on her leaving a disgusting feeling that she couldn’t name. She quickly shoved his hand off of her, stepping back and carefully averting her gaze. It’d only piss him off more if she looked him in the eyes. 

“What are you doing here, Brendon?”

Throwing his hands up in playful defeat, the tall man sauntered back. “Fine. I’ll get to the point. I’ve got another job for you tonight.”

“I’m off the clock”, she stated simply, turning towards her door.

Before she could even take a step, she felt a hand grip her arm harshly and wrench her backwards. Alex swallowed a cry of surprise as she felt her feet drag and she was held right in front of the lanky man once again.

“I never said it was optional”, he spat, his grip tightening on her arm, “You don’t want me telling them you’re living up to your family name, now do you?”

Alex’s entire body froze. She felt her skin heat up and she would bet that her face had turned bright red. She knew what that threat meant, her mother and friend’s faces flashing in her mind. She was practically biting the insides of her lips to keep herself from ripping into the spoiled piece of shit in front of her. Instead, she stood shock still, fists clenched and fighting to keep herself silent.

The whole image seemed to flip Brendon’s mood almost instantly. His sneer turned into his usual smirk that made him look like an asshole. He leaned forward, levelling his gaze with hers. 

“There you go”, he muttered, eyes falling down to her red cheeks and tight lips in a way that made Alex’s skin crawl, “That’s how I like you. Maybe you should practice keeping your mouth shut. I’ll help you if you like.”

Alex nearly gagged, but kept herself in check. She stared down the man in front of her and saw that he was quickly losing interest in her lack of response. Pulling himself back up to full height, he gazed down at her with what could only be described as sick interest. He shot her a smile that he seemed to think was charming while finally letting go of her arm. The skin throbbed and Alex knew that it would leave a bruise later.

“The job’s on 11th and 53rd”, he provided as if he hadn’t just threatened her, “Two other guys are gonna be there.”

“Who?”, she managed to croak out, keeping her gaze to the side.

“Jack and Noah”, he replied.

Alex couldn’t hold in a scoff at the names. “Those two are morons.”

“Clearly”, Brendon chuckled, shrugging and sliding his hands in his pockets, “That’s why I need you there. Jack’s shit at math and Noah has a tendency to get a little happy with his fists. And this buyer is someone my pops wants to keep around.”

“Some corporate piece of shit, I’m guessing?”

“You always were a sharp one, Lexi”, Brendon smirked, jerking his chin in the direction of the deal, “You better get a move on. Deal’s in less than thirty minutes. The boys already have the goods. Don’t want those two shitheads screwing it up before you get there.”

Feeling her throat contract, Alex swallowed and nodded. She kept her gaze away from Paco, choosing instead to walk around him and head in the direction of the job. The small gesture only made her angrier. But still she kept her mouth shut. She couldn’t afford to piss him off more tonight, and she didn’t have the energy to fight.

The place was by the park, just a few dozen feet from the entrance. Just secluded enough to not draw attention but not popular enough with junkies to be suspicious. Alex figured it must be someone with money if they wanted to meet there. Someone who didn’t want to be seen. She could understand the desire. However, she couldn’t bring herself to care much. All she needed to do was get through the deal, put up with Jack and Noah for less than ten minutes, and get home. 

She got to the drop quickly, seeing both men loitering around a park bench that was one seat away from breaking apart. Noah had a joint stuck between his lips and Jack was messing around on his phone, leaning against a car that must have been left behind by someone at the bar only a block away. Alex scoffed, noting they looked more like bored high school students than anyone who could hold their own in a deal.

“Hey, shitheads!”, she called out carefully, “You got what we need?”

A boyish smile spread across Jack’s pale face. His brown curls fell over his forehead, making him look much younger than he was. “Ready whenever.”

“Got the stuff right here”, Noah cut in, hoisting up a tattered backpack with way too much pride. 

“Okay, put that away”, Alex hissed, swatting the backpack away from her, “Look, we’re just gonna go through with the deal and get out of here. No fucking after party, okay? In and out.”

Both men shrugged, barely listening to her. She rolled her eyes, not expecting much else. Instead, all three of them waited for the buyer in annoyed silence.

They remained like that for ten minutes. Then twenty. Minutes ticked by as Alex waited for the buyer. Nervous, she looked down the darkened street in the hopes that someone would be walking down. 

“Where the hell is this guy?”, Noah groaned, grinding the stub of his joint under his heel, “He was supposed to be here, like, an hour ago.”

“Maybe he got jumped?” Jack provided dumbly.

Alex chuckled, glaring over at the curly haired man across from her. “Last I checked, all the criminals are right here.”

Stepping up away from the car, Jack sneered over at Alex. “Watch it, bitch. This is our deal.”

“Yeah?” Alex, not at all scared by this guy, stepped right up to him. They were the same height, which made it easy to look a little more intimidating. “Well, I’m the only one who knows what the hell she’s doing. You may be the one selling, but I’m the one running this deal.”

“Just because you’re Brendon’s fucking pet project doesn’t mean you get to take over our operations.”

“No”, Alex simpered, “You two being incompetent junkies means I get to take over. I’m in deeper than either of you, and I don’t plan of having you two screw up everything I’ve had to work for. Get it?”

Jack seemed to slump under her gaze, pouting as he took a step back from her. Alex couldn’t help the flicker of satisfaction in her chest as she watched him back down.

In hindsight, Alex would later come to note that her biggest mistake was that one stupid statement.

Still holding onto the satisfaction of shutting Jack up, the dark haired woman almost missed the rustling behind her. Whipping her head around, Alex felt her brows pull together at the noise, which had quickly disappeared. “Did you guys hear that?”

“What?” Jack sneered, “Getting nervous now, boss?”

Despite the fact that she could have shaken it off and put Jack in his place again, Alex couldn’t help the little chill up her spine. She knew all too well what happened to criminals when they stayed out too late in Hell’s Kitchen. “I- I think we need to leave.”

“You scared of a little noise?” Jack continued to taunt her. Alex whipped her head around to glare over at the man.

“Hey man, lay off”, Noah slurred, high off his ass.

“Look, they buyer’s clearly not coming”, Alex insisted, feeling her hair stand on end, “Let’s just go-”

Suddenly, out of the dark, a hand reached out and grabbed Jack by the back of his jacket. Alex couldn’t help the scream that ripped its way out of her throat when she saw the figure grabbing Jack slam him down into the concrete. Noah was screaming just a few feet from her, too sluggish and high to move quickly enough to get out of the way. With Jack clutching his head on the ground, the figure stepped up into the streetlight towards Noah.

Alex felt her eyes widen as she realized who was attacking, the one who had given everyone working on the streets nightmares for almost a year: Daredevil.

Stumbling back as quickly as she could, Alex started running as fast as she could down the street. As she did, she turned her head for a second to see if the devil was pursuing her, only to feel her toes slam into a large crack in the sidewalk. She fell hard onto the ground, the skin on the heels of her hands ripping up as she tried to break her fall. She tumbled down, her whole body rolling against the uneven and sharp concrete. Her knee slammed into the ground with an audible rip, her jeans ripping apart on impact. Alex let out a yelp as she felt her knee burn and blood trickle down her calf. Desperate, she tried to push herself up, but felt her leg give out as she tried to put weight on it. Feeling her breathing become more ragged and panicked, she noticed a car not too far from her. Quickly, she dragged herself behind the car, curling in on herself to try and make herself as indistinguishable as possible.

“Holy shit”, she gasped, feeling like her heart was going to beat straight out of her ribcage, “Holy shit- holy shit!”

Peering cautiously around the side of the car, Alex tried to see what was happening. It was too dark to see who was who in the fight, and she quickly gave up on it. It was all drowned out in the sounds of fists on jaws and bones breaking. Instead she tried to keep her breathing under control as she pressed herself bruisingly close against the tire of the car. She knew she had to get out, and get out fast. Nodding to herself and trying to build up the courage to run, she brought herself up to her knees. She winced as she tried to put weight on her knee, feeling the blood running down her leg at an worrying rate.

Apparently Jack had the same idea. He was dumber than a pile of bricks but apparently had the brains to try and run. Looking up, she saw that his face was beaten badly, blood pouring out of his nose and mouth. 

Suddenly, a body flew into the windshield just behind her, the feet slamming carelessly into the back of Jack’s head. Alex screamed, curling in on herself and shaking as glass flew over her and stuck in her hair. The body tumbled down off of the hood of the car right next to her, forcing Alex to see Noah’s bloody, open face. She could feel bile rising in her throat at the sight of it. Jack crumpled down under him, crying out in pain as he tried to push Noah’s heavy body off of him.

Then, out of the darkness, was the black clad vigilante himself. Moving quickly and precisely, he kneeled down and delivered a harsh blow to Jack’s head, knocking him out cold. Alex pressed herself further against the car, her heart rate out of control. Then, slowly, she saw Daredevil’s partially covered face turn towards her. 

Terrified, Alex scrambled backwards towards the street, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and the vigilante. Her ragged breath ripped through her throat as she watched Daredevil easily make his way over to her and grab her by the front of her hoodie, hauling her up onto her feet and slamming her back into the side of the car. Alex let out a short scream, starting to lose it.

“Be quiet”, he demanded, his voice surprisingly low and quiet, “I have a few questions.”

“W-what?”, Alex manages to stutter, her arms going up instinctively to try and dissuade the black clad man from hurting her, “I d- I don’t know what you-”

“Who reports to Fisk?”

The dark haired girl stopped shaking for a millisecond, instead looking up at the vigilante confused. “Wh-what?”

“Your organization”, he elaborated, voice unnervingly even, “You worked for Fisk before he went under. Who keeps tabs on his orders?”

Alex felt her chest contracting, truly unsure of what she had to say to escape this situation. She racked her brain, remembering only snippets of Brendon bragging about something to do with Fisk. “I don’t- I don’t know anything. I swear, I- I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Weren’t you just saying you were the one running the deal?’

Feeling her mouth open and shut like a gaping fish, Alex had no response. 

Daredevil’s partially covered face tilted to the side. “It’s not a good idea to lie to me. You mentioned someone named Brendon. Who is he?”

Part of Alex told her to tell him everything, but the rest of her knew the consequences of that. But they were hard to focus on with the Devil himself staring her in the face.

“I c- I can’t. I swear, I don’t know any-”

Suddenly, Daredevil’s gloved hand lifted up into a fist and slammed into the car window just an inch away from Alex’s face. She screamed, snapping her head away as quickly as she could. She felt tears spill involuntarily from her eyes, crying out and trying to regain her breath. 

“I said”, the man said lowly, face only a few inches from her own, “don’t lie to me.”

“O-okay!”, she sputtered, feeling spit flying from her mouth and snot running from her nose. This always happened when she started crying. Shakily, she raised her gaze to the black mask, her entire body shaking violently. “He- he’s the boss’s son. He’s in charge of the- the small time deals. Coke, heroin, th-that sorta stuff.”

“Is that all you’ve got?”

“I- I really don’t-”, she pleaded, her words choppy and shaky, “I can’t say- please don’t hurt me. I can’t say anything!”

Alex could see Daredevil’s brows pulling down underneath the mask, his lips tugging into a deeper frown.

Tightening his grip on her shirt and pressing her further against the car, his lips parted, a scowl on his face.

“What’s your name?” he demanded.

“Alex”, she panted, too terrified to say anything other than the truth.

She watched at the vigilante’s head tilted by a fraction of an inch, face turned towards her as if he were trying to memorize her. Her heart pounded against her chest, feeling as if he were committing her to memory. The whole thing felt off, making her stomach twist.

“We’re not done.”

Then, without warning, he slammed her back against the car and let go of her hoodie. Without the vigilante holding her up, Alex collapsed onto the ground, her leg throbbing as she did. She didn’t take her eyes off of him for a second, seeing him retreat into a darkened alley not even twenty feet away. The black outfit made him blend into the shadows, making him indistinguishable from the darkness around them. 

Not needing to stick around much longer, Alex scrambled to her feet, ignoring the throbbing all the way down her leg. She broke into a half run-half limp out of the park as quickly as she could. She ran all the way back to her apartment, slamming her shoulder into the door in her haste to get inside. She stumbled up the stairs, making her way to her door. With shaking fingers, she pulled out her key and barely managed to slide it into the lock before nearly falling straight down onto her floor. 

She slammed the door behind her, locking it and putting on the deadbolt. Feeling her heart still racing, Alex leaned against the door and slid down onto the ground. Attempting to get her breath under control, she pressed her head into her hands as the smell of blood soaked into the air.

She had no idea why he had questioned her, or if the vigilante really would have hurt her. She was tall, but skinny to the point of looking like a good gust of wind would snap her in half. She was small time, no one important to anything or anyone. Besides, it would have looked really bad for him to beat up a woman if nothing else.

We’re not done.

His words rang in her ears. She had no idea what that meant. Could he find her? Had he followed her home? How stupid was she for running straight home. She could have lead him right to her. 

Alex sat like that for nearly an hour, not knowing that this terror and confusion would only last until the next night. It would only take a day for her to run into the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen again.


	2. Alley Meetup

Alex nearly jumped out of the bed at the sound of someone slamming their fist into her door. She grimaced as the rose, feeling her head pound in protest. Slowly, she slid her legs out of bed as quietly as she could. She couldn’t help the small groan that escaped her lips as she felt her swollen and shredded knee throb as she moved. It was wrapped up sloppily in gauze that was now stained red and brown with dried blood. 

Snatching up her sweatpants and pepper spray, Alex moved slowly through her bedroom. She stepped carefully over several old piles of clothes and crumpled up papers. She was certain that if the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen was coming to torture her, he wasn’t going to announce his presence. Still, she didn’t want to risk it. 

“Alex, wake your ass up!”, called out a familiar voice behind the door, “We’ve got a shift in an hour!”

Feeling her breath nearly fall out of her chest with relief, Alex dropped the pepper spray on the counter beside her and leaned down to tug on her sweatpants to cover up her injured knee. She nearly tripped on her pant leg while still trying to keep all her weight on one foot.

“Just a second!” she called back, hopping on one leg towards the door as she pulled her pants up. Knotting the drawstring, she unbolted the door and pulled it open to reveal her friend Mandy standing on the other side with two fast food bags clutched in her hands. Her curly brown hair was pulled up in a wild ponytail and her dark skin was flushed from walking up the three flights of stairs it took to get to Alex’s apartment. 

“You know that shit rots your insides”, Alex noted, nodding towards the greasy bags in Mandy’s hands.

She shrugged, a smirk already playing at the edges of her lips. “Bring it up with the doctors we can’t afford.”

“Fair point.”

Mandy didn’t bother waiting to be invited, sauntering into the apartment like she had for the last few years like clockwork. She dropped the bags of food on the counter, plopping right down into the chair beside her and propping her legs up on the counter. Her oversized jeans were held up only by a large brown belt since Mandy almost religiously refused to wear pants her own size. 

“So”, she drawled, pulling out greasy hash brown from one of the bags, “What’s on the agenda for today?”

“Other than work?”, Alex responded, shutting and locking the door, “Nothing.”

“What about your other job?”

“Nah”, she responded easily, “Courtside isn't until tomorrow. I can keep all my clothes on tonight.”

Mandy’s face scrunched up in disgust, pretending to gag. “I still don’t get why you work at that misogynistic hellhole.”

The dark haired girl sighed, beginning to limp over to the counter. She absolutely hated talking about her second job at Hell’s Kitchen’s sleaziest sports bar. “Well, it helps with the bills, and the girls there aren’t so bad-”

“Hold up”, Mandy interrupted, her hand shooting out and pointing right at her leg, “What the hell happened there?”

Alex froze, her bum leg hovering an inch above the ground. She swiped her thick hair back nervously, trying to seem calm. “It’s- uh, it’s nothing.”

She could feel Mandy glaring at her, the feeling of her gaze making Alex flush. Her friend’s lip curled down into a scowl as she pulled her legs down off of the counter and stood up from the chair. “You know the deal, Moreno. You tell me everything about your other job- your other other job.”

“Mandy, I know-”

“Did Brendon do this to you?”, she demanded, her face softening with worry as she made her way over to Alex to help guide her over to the chair she has just been occupying, “If he did, I’ll kick his ass.”

Alex snorted, dropping down into the chair less than gracefully. “Brendon’s all talk. I think he’d rather screw me than dismember me.”

“What a glowing review.” Mandy deadpanned, passing Alex a breakfast sandwich, “Isn’t he the one who keeps trying to push the gang’s new name? Hell’s Wraiths?”

“Technically the name’s not new. Just the whole, you know, notoriety thing.” She quickly snatched up the food, shoving it in her mouth. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast the day before and she was starving. Swiping some grease from the corner of her mouth, Alex continued. “It definitely lacks creativity, though. No, well- uh, you… you know Daredevil?”

Alex watched as Mandy’s scowl morphed into an almost comically surprised face. Her jaw went slack and her eyes went wide as she took in what her friend had said. Her mouth opened and closed before she managed to sputter out a response. “He- the Daredevil? He did this to you?”

“Well…”, she sighed, quickly rubbing at her forehead distractedly, “Sort of. No. Kinda. He showed up to this- this deal Brendon forced me to go to. Beat the shit out of the guys I was with. I tried to get out of there but…”

“You tripped on your own damn feet.” Mandy finished, grabbing at Alex’s face without any warning.

“Hey! What are you-”

“Shut it”, she cut off, eyes probing all over Alex’s face, scanning her hairline and jaw for any signs of injury. “Your face is fine. I’m assuming you’re not hiding some broken rib under your shirt. You promise it’s just your leg?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re still keeping tabs on everything?”

Alex’s eyes flicked over to the open notebook on her counter. She’d been taking note of everything and everyone she came into contact with since she was forced to start working with the Wraith’s. Dealers, bosses, what they sold. Who they sold. Everytime something major went down, Alex kept the evidence. Not like she had anyone to give it to. Half the cops in Hell’s Kitchen were in someone’s pocket, and she had no way of knowing who would help her and who would kill her.

Alex swatted her friend’s hands off of her face, scowling up at her. “Yes. Yes, I promise. You can quit with the third degree. You’re not my mother.”

“And thank God for that”, she sighed, snatching up her hashbrown from the counter and shoving it in her mouth, “Your mom’s a piece of shit. You heard from her lately?”

The dark haired girl shrugged, feeling her face drop. She hated talking about her mother. “You know I haven’t. Most I’ve heard about her lately is she’s about five grand deeper in debt. My bet’s on heroin this time.”

Mandy snarled. She hated Alex’s mom almost as much as Alex did, considering she was the only other person in the world who knew who Trudy Moreno really was. “Whatever. Just glad she’s not still leaving you voicemails. And you’re letting me check your ribs before we leave.”

Feeling her lips quirk up a little, Alex nodded and took another bite of her breakfast sandwich, trying to ignore the knot in her stomach that still lingered from the night before.

\----

No more than a few streets down, Matt Murdock was having an equally exhausting morning. And for once, it wasn’t from his nighttime activities. Instead, he sat holed up in his office with Foggy poring over their latest case. After their takedown of Fisk, Nelson & Murdock had managed to garner some mild success. Karen wasn’t in yet, having gone out to get coffee. That left the two men to go over their latest case.

Matt’s fingers flew over his copies of the testimonies Karen and Foggy had managed to take down during their meeting with Mrs. Velasquez. The older woman’s heavy perfume still lingered in the office, coating Matt’s tongue and forcing him to try not to gag. Instead, he focused his attention on on the rather gruesome but confusing account of their client’s sons death. 

“I’m telling you, Matt”, Foggy groaned, “There’s not enough evidence to take this to court.”

Matt shrugged, finishing off the last of the page he was on. “She said he was wrapped up in some pretty deep shit with the Demons. Drugs, guns. It’s not a stretch to think he got in too deep.”

“Yeah, but believing it’s true doesn’t make it that way.” Foggy countered, leaning back in his chair, “She has no evidence. Maybe it was a deal gone bad. The Wraithsdeals in some messed up product, not impossible for him to get hooked up with the wrong dealer.”

“You really think it was a junkie?”

Matt listened as Foggy groaned, slamming his head into his hands. “No. No I do not think it was a junkie. But what the hell kind of case do we have with no evidence that the Demons put a hit on Ms. Velasquez’s son? We don’t have any evidence that they were involved at all. Also, what the hell kind of name is the Hell’s Wraiths?”

Matt chuckled, leaning back in his chair at his friend’s tone. “I don’t think creativity is their strong suit.”

Foggy scoffed, pushing the file in front of him back with disgust. “This photo begs to differ.”

“Still can’t see it, buddy.”

“I know that”, he retorted, “But you know what they did. They chopped off parts of him I didn’t even know existed. Nothing this gruesome can be called anything but creative.”

Matt nodded, remembering his friend describing the crime scene photos. He’d spilled his fair share of blood, but whoever did this enjoyed it way too much. Christopher Velasquez- no older than seventeen- was cut up and left for dead in a dumpster just two days prior. One hand was missing, along with several toes and a piece of his left ear. The cops had all but dismissed the case when the autopsy found large amounts of cocaine in his system. 

“We’ll find something concrete”, Matt assured his friend, “We just have to dig deeper. There has to be something they left behind, some sort of… marker or brand. If it’s really gang related, they would have left a warning to anyone who saw the body. Something we wouldn’t notice right away.”

“God, you sound like someone off Law and Order”, Foggy grumbled, snatching the photo’s out of the file.

The blind man couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Please don’t compare me to that show.”

Foggy shrugged, barely paying attention to Matt as he looked over the photo’s. “What? That show’s been running for, what? Eighty years? They’ve gotta be doing something right.”

Matt smirked, going back to his copy of the testimony and trying to get any information he could out of Mrs. Velasquez’s testimony. The deeper he went, the less he came up with. There was nothing his client said that gave any specific indication of who had killed her son and why. His head began to pound as he pored over her words over and over again. Sighing, he rubbed at his temples to try and push back the throbbing in his skull. 

“Yeah, you’re telling me buddy”, Foggy piped, dropping his papers on the table, “I mean, if we had someone who knew more about the Wraiths. Someone willing to talk, we could figure out what this kill meant. Why it went down, if it’s gonna happen again.”

As Foggy went on, Matt’s mind went back to the dealer he’d managed to briefly interrogate the night before. The way her heart jumped, the way he’d managed to get some information from her with relatively little effort on his part. Granted, she’d been injured and had watched him take town her partners. Slowly, an idea formed in his mind. And Foggy clearly took notice.

“No”, he stated bluntly, “Whatever it is, no.”

“I haven’t said anything”, Matt argured.

“I know that look. That look means you’ve got-”, Foggy quickly cut himself off, looking to the door to see if Karen had returned, “...you’ve got Daredevil related ideas. And I want no part of it.”

Matt sighed, getting ready to explain himself as rationally as he could. “Look, I intercepted a deal last night with three Wraiths. They’ve got ties to Fisk, I figured I could get some information out of them. One of them started talking.”

Foggy kept looking over at the door before groaning and glaring over at his friend. “What did he give you?”

“She didn’t give me much”, Matt admitted, “But the way she talked, she said she couldn’t tell me anything.”

“So…”, Foggy drawled, “It’s a dead end?”

“She didn’t say she wouldn’t tell me, she said she couldn’t.” Matt argued, leaning forward in his chair, “That means they probably have something on her.”

“Most likely the threat of bodily harm” his friend pointed out exasperatedly, “I’ve described these photos in great detail, Murdock. Even you’d be at least a little hesitant to snitch on people who do this.”

“But she gave me something.”

The blind man could feel his friend getting more frustrated as he went on. Foggy kept running his hands through his hair and looking over at the door like he was scared Karen would catch them at any moment. With a groan, he dropped his hands on the table and looked back over at his friend.

“Fine”, Foggy gave in, “What did this elusive, most likely heartbreakingly attractive woman give you?”

“How would- how is that the point, Foggy?”

Foggy jabbed a finger at his friend accusingly. “The point is you’ve somehow found another beautiful woman with a shady backstory to torture me with. It’s a freaking pattern with you, Murdock.”

Matt bit back any arguments he had. They’d had this argument more times than was ever necessary, and he knew his friend wasn’t about to let go of his idea of Matt using beautiful women to make his life a living hell.

“She gave me a name.” Matt stated calmly, “The boss’s son. Someone named Brendon.”

That seemed to catch Foggy’s attention. He sat up straighter, seeming to listen a little closer. “She didn’t give you a last name. She seems like a terrible informant.”

“She’ll give it to me.” Matt insisted, “I just have to…”

“Torture her?”

The room suddenly went silent. Even without his senses, Matt would have been able to feel the tension that had come up with that one statement. The inside of his chest tugged painfully, unsure of what to respond with.

“I didn’t say that.”

“I’ve seen your leftovers, Matt.” Foggy responded quietly, “Unfortunately, I know what you do now.”

“It’s not gonna be like that”, he assured him, “I’ll just scare her. Get what I need for this case and get out.”

Foggy sighed, running his fingers through his hair again. “As a member of the legal profession, I can’t condone this.”

“That’s noted.”

“You’re gonna do it anyway, aren’t you?”

“I never said that.”

Foggy let out a long sigh, leaning back dejectedly in his chair. “How the hell are you even gonna find this girl? Do your superpowers extend to super stalking?”

“I know where some smaller dealers are.” Matt offered, trying to reassure his friend as best he could, “The guys she was with the night before clearly knew who she was. I figure some others might, too.”

“This is so messed up.”

Matt shrugged. “Never said it wasn’t.”

\----

Leaning forward on the counter, Alex lifted her heels up off the floor to give her aching feet a break. She’d been working a double shift for almost twelve hours, dealing with drunk and handsy customers since what felt like dawn. Two fights had broken out, leaving her to clean up the broken glass and traces of blood from the already disgustingly dirty floor. Now, the whole place was empty, save herself and Mandy. They’d been stuck with the closing shift. She leaned even further over the counter that separated the dining area and the kitchen, the smell of syrup and bacon grease burning up her nose. 

Alex could hear Mandy speaking beside her, no doubt throwing her hands around dramatically. But she was barely listening to her friend ramble beside her, instead spending her energy glaring ruefully up at the clock above the front door to the diner. She stared so hard her eyes felt like they might fall out, though she figured that was the exhaustion. 

Out of nowhere, she could see a hand waving over her face. Without blinking, she swatted the hand away and kept sneering up at the clock.

“Earth to Moreno”, Mandy insisted, chuckling as she retracted her hand, “I’ve been talking for, like, five minutes. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Alex shrugged dejectedly, finally taking her eyes off the clock. “Trying to make the clock run faster.”

“And how’s that working out for you?”

Pointing up lazily, the dark haired woman rolled her eyes and leaned down further onto the diner counter. “Take a look for yourself. Still stuck at one forty.”

“Well damn”, Mandy sighed, flicking her curly brown hair back over her shoulder, “We’ll have to wait to send in your application for the Avengers.”

Alex couldn’t help the snort that escaped her lips, running her hands through the loose dark locks of hair that fell over her eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure Tony Stark is waiting around for a waitress from Hell’s Kitchen to waltz in and help him battle aliens.”

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short”, the dark skinned girl lilted, pushing herself up off the counter, “You have the absolutely stunning superpower of making time move at an exceedingly normal pace.”

“Ha ha”, Alex deadpanned, following Mandy and pushing herself back up to a standing position, “You should go on tour with that bit.” 

“You bet I should”, she responded snarkily, “I’d be the sexiest comedian in New York.”

Moving around the counter, Alex snatched up the tub resting on the counter and made her way over to the nearest booth. She carefully placed all the dishes from the table inside the tub while Mandy carelessly scrubbed away at the syrup stains on the table. Alex nearly gagged at the feeling of bits of eggs and ketchup floating around in the already murky dishwater. As the two continued to clean up the empty diner, Alex could feel Mandy’s eyes on her the whole time.

“You got something to say?”

Mandy opened her mouth, silent for a few moments as she tried to formulate words. “You know there’s always an air mattress for you at my place.”

Alex chuckled, dismissing the offer immediately. “Yeah, I don’t think your girlfriend would be too thrilled about that.”

“Have you met Reagan?” Mandy scoffed, rubbing away at a particularly sticky pool of syrup, “She’d probably throw you a moving in party, complete with homemade cookies and that Vietnamese food she’s so fucking good at.”

“Probably because she is Vietnamese”, the dark haired girl pointed out snarkily.

“Okay, whatever asshole”, Mandy retorted, tossing her rag into the tub at Alex’s side, “You know what I’m trying to say here. You’ve got a safe place to land if things go sideways.”

“I’ve been doing this for over a year”, Alex reassured her, picking up the heavy tub of dishes from the table, “So far, everything has remained fairly upright.”

“Upright, my ass”, Mandy mumbled under her breath, following her friend into the kitchen where Alex was dumping dishes into the sink. She scrubbed hastily at the greasy plates, feeling the hot water scald her skin. The two women worked in tandem for several silent minutes, managing to get through most of the dishes before she heard Mandy hiss under her breath.

“Shit.”

“What?” Alex inquired, wiping her hair off of her forehead with the back of her hand.

“Nothing”, Mandy responded, glancing up at the clock above the sink, “I just promised Reagan I’d be home by now. She wanted some help on a presentation for work.”

Alex shrugged, turning back to the dishes. “Go ahead. I’ve got the rest.”

“Alex, it’s not-”

“Seriously”, she reassured her friend, giving her a tired smile, “I’ve got it. Go home to your girlfriend.”

Mandy looked like she was about to protest, but slowly shut her mouth. She wiped her hands on her jeans before looking softly up at Alex. “I’ll close out next time.”

“You better”, Alex responded with a smirk. 

With a grin, Mandy quickly kissed Alex on the cheek and threw her apron on the counter. “You’re the best, Moreno.”

Alex chuckled as she listened to Mandy run out of the diner, the door bell jingling behind her. She turned back to the remainder of the dishes, lazily finishing up and putting everything back. She casually threw her apron back onto the hook in the kitchen and snatched her backpack off of the hook beside it. She then made her way towards the fridge, pulling out two large tupperware boxes out of her bag. She quickly snatched up several packages of frozen vegetables and what was left of what customers had sent back throughout the day. She quickly filled up her tupperware with pancakes and bacon and eggs. Throwing them back into her backpack, she shut the fridge and slung her bag over her shoulder. 

Turning off the lights and snagging the keys to the front door from one of her pockets, Alex sauntered out onto the sidewalk and locked the door behind her. The late night darkness and street lights were familiar to her as she made her way back in the direction of her house.

She really should have been paying attention to what was going on around her.

As Alex absentmindedly shoved her keys in the front pocket of her backpack, she suddenly felt a hand wrap its way around her arm. Just as she started to scream, a gloved hand gripped her by the jaw and over her mouth, silencing her. She thrashed around, trying to kick and scratch at whoever was behind her, but they were strong. They dragged her back into an alley, pulling her out of the light of the streetlamps and slamming her back against the brick wall behind her. Their grip on her arm twisted it beside her, threatening and painful. With wide eyes, she finally looked into the masked face of the man she’d been terrified to ever run into again. She could feel her chest burn with the muffled, panicked breaths being blocked from entering her lungs.

“I’m going to remove my hand from your mouth”, he instructed her quietly, “It’s in your best interest not to scream. Do you understand?”

Without hesitating, Alex nodded her head. She felt his grip loosen on her jaw, hearing the edge pop from the pressure. True to her word, she didn’t make as sound. Instead, she stared up at the vigilante, trying to hide the fact that she was shaking from the inside out.

“You’re- you’re him”, she gasped, her voice shaking, “You’re- what are you- how’d you find me?”

“I have a few questions for you”, he responded, ignoring her question.

“How’d you find me?”, Alex insisted, feeling her face twist into a scowl.

The vigilante didn’t move, still only inches from her as he considered her. “Your other dealers aren’t as loyal as you might think.”

The dark haired girl couldn’t help the scoff that escaped her lips. “No one’s loyal when they’re being tortured. That’s your thing, right? Torturing junkies?”

“I said I had a few questions for you”, he growled, pressing her further against the brick wall. She could feel the stone cutting into her shoulder blades, reminding her of just who she was talking to. She quickly shut her mouth, trying to put as much distance between herself and the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen as possible. “Who killed Christopher Velasquez?”

Alex felt her brows knit together in confusion. “Who?”

“One of your runners”, he clarified, “Dismembered and left for dead in a dumpster a few blocks down. What do you know about it?”

“I- I had nothing to do with that”, she panted desperately, “I swear, I didn’t.”

“Then who did?”, he demanded, his voice eerily even and low.

Alex’s pulse jumped. She knew exactly who would dismember a kid. “I- I really can’t-”

“If you’re thinking about lying to me”, he cut her off, “Don’t.”

Alex suddenly felt his grip tightening on her arm, twisting it backwards. She yelped, feeling her muscles and bone protesting against the nearly bone breaking angle he’d forced her into. Her breath started to become ragged, panic setting in again. “P-please stop. I can’t- I can’t help you!”

He twisted again, causing Alex to cry out. She could feel her skin burn as he twisted it around her arm. She watched at his jaw tightened, his whole body stiffening as he twisted harder and harder, her bone ready to snap at any moment. Her fingers had gone numb, blood no longer circulating beneath his fingers. “Stop! Please- please stop!”

Suddenly, his shoulders went stiff and he stopped pulling. Quickly, he let go of her arm as if she’d burned him. He didn’t step back, but he’d let her go. Alex cried out again, curling in on herself as she shakily cradled her arm close to her middle. She could already feel the bruises forming under her skin. Her numb fingers began to prick painfully as blood came back into her hand. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Daredevil shake his head slowly, stepping back a fraction of an inch. 

She didn’t know what it was, but watching the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen begin to walk away felt wrong. Like an opportunity slipping through the cracks. Her mind flashed back to the notebook sitting on her counter. The countless crimes she’d seen and heard about that would go unpunished.

“You’re trying to take down the Wraith’s, right?”

That caught his attention. His head turned towards her, clearly listening. She had no idea why she was talking, but her mouth just seemed to keep moving. Spite and desperation burned her throat as the words left. “You’re looking in the wrong places.”

“What?” he questioned, still as he took in her words.

“Y-you asked about Fisk”, she continued, feeling her body begin to shake again, “He’s not the one in control anymore.”

The vigilante stood still, almost as if he hadn’t heard her. But she knew better. She could see his head tilt to the side slowly, like he was taking in every syllable she’d stuttered out. “I thought you said you didn’t know anything.”

Alex took a step back, still cradling her arm which was now beginning to throb. “I- I know who reported to him. And you’re wrong. They don’t answer to him anymore. They’re off the leash.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“That’s why the kid’s dead”, she continued, ignoring him altogether, “I didn’t know him, but everyone knows who does that shit to people. What happens when you talk.”

Slowly, Daredevil took a step towards her, making her flinch. “What are you telling me?”

Alex could feel the inside of her chest begin to shake, her whole body twitching nervously. The reality of what she was considering came crashing down inside her, making her insides feel like they were knotting up and her stomach lurch. “Shit… shit, I- I shouldn’t- I can’t-”

“Alex, tell me.” he demanded, standing over her like a shadow, “Now. What do they have on you?”

“It’s not me. You don’t get it.” she panted, feeling her throat begin to burn as he held her head in her hands, “After Fisk… they only got worse. If- if they knew I- shit, they’d- they’d probably do something worse to…”

“I wouldn’t worry about them right now. I’d worry about me.”

Slowly, Alex looked up at the vigilante. She knew what he was, what he did to people like her. But she also knew she didn’t want to die having done nothing. She couldn’t keep living like that, and she didn’t want it to consume her anymore.

“You want them gone.” she said slowly, rising up to his height, “The Wraith’s, everything they do. The- the drugs, the trafficking. Everything. You want it gone. I do to. I- I think I can help you.”


End file.
